As a key part of Transport for London’s preparations for tendering the sponsorship of London’s iconic Cycle Hire Scheme, PHAR’s Insight team has delivered a comprehensive report into the value that partnership with the scheme delivers for a sponsor.
PHAR’s report covers a wide range of valuation metrics, including quantifying the social value delivered by the scheme, assessment of the scheme’s strategic associations, valuation of the branding exposure and comprehensive research into sponsorship benchmarks from around the world.
Informed by the evidence and insights generated from this research and analysis, PHAR’s report also includes an assessment of a range of commercial options for the next sponsorship term and recommendations for how the value delivered to a sponsor may be maximised.
The scheme has been sponsored by Santander since 2015. A statutory tender process is to be undertaken by TfL in 2024 for the next sponsorship term, to run from March 2025.
This is the third time that PHAR has been appointed by TfL to analyse the Cycle Hire Scheme sponsorship opportunity, following evaluations delivered in 2012 and 2020 to support renewal discussions with Barclays and Santander respectively.
Harriet McDonald, Lead for Commercial Partnerships and Experiential Marketing at Transport for London, commented: “PHAR has delivered for us a fantastic piece of work - thorough and insightful. The Cycle Hire Scheme represents one of our largest and most important sponsorship assets and it’s crucial that we not only understand its true value as a marketing investment for brands, but also ensure that our strategy for the opportunity is based on robust evidence and informed, intelligent insights. PHAR’s report delivers this to an extremely high level and is playing an important role in shaping our commercial strategy as we prepare the opportunity for the market early in 2024.”
Alastair Macdonald, PHAR Partnerships Managing Director, added: “It’s a source of great pride to us that Transport for London entrusts PHAR with such an important piece of work for such a prestigious sponsorship asset – arguably the biggest Sustainability sponsorship in the UK. Our work shows the sponsorship doesn’t only deliver massive year-round exposure for a sponsor’s brand (which it does to a very strong degree), but provides powerful associations with increasingly important values, and can have a significant impact on a sponsor’s brand image and purchase consideration. It’s a true blue-chip sponsorship, and we are grateful to TfL for the opportunity to work together on such an important asset.”